


The Earth Beneath Our Feet

by LyeInWeight



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adulthood, Angst with a Happy Ending, Coma, F/M, Ladybug Leaves, author has many regrets not the least of which is how much research he had to do, author is too excited about research, i have no idea how comas work, i have no idea how hospitals work either, ladybug goes nyooom, notes are almost as long as the story sometimes, where the fuck is the 21st arrondissment
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-10
Updated: 2017-08-10
Packaged: 2018-12-13 14:57:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11762319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LyeInWeight/pseuds/LyeInWeight
Summary: Marinette has been in a coma for nearly three years now, but it seems hope is on the horizon.Ladybug returns after nearly three years away, but settling back into her superhero life may be harder than she hopes.Trouble brews in Paris, and while Papillon may be defeated, a hero's work is never done.





	The Earth Beneath Our Feet

_“Chat?” Ladybug asked, from her spot on the rooftop next to him._

_Chat turned to her, ears perked in question. Ladybug sighed._

_“Do you ever think this will be over?”_  

* * *

 

Adrien jerked awake, eyes unfocused on the ceiling. An alarm blared from his phone. Adrien freed an arm from his heavy comforter and tapped the screen, turning off the alarm. He tried to summon the will to get up, body heavy with yet another troubled sleep. Finally he kicked the blankets off and pulled himself out of bed, heading to the small kitchen in his apartment. Plagg stared at him from his own bed, but said nothing. Neither were in the mood for sarcastic comments these days.

He poured himself a cup of coffee and checked his phone: one text from Alya, asking if he would be at the hospital today. He shot a text back: _Of course._ He wasn’t ever _not_ at the hospital these days. Adrien finished his cup of coffee, then set about getting himself ready for the day.

45 minutes later, with teeth and hair brushed and clothed in something besides a pair of pajama pants, Adrien locked the door behind him and began his daily trek to the hospital, passing familiar shops and familiar signs. He could walk this with his eyes closed at this point. Plagg nestled in his side bag, silent.

He passed through the doors of the hospital, nodding to the nurses gathered by the front desk. Doctors hurried past him, intent on receiving lab results or prepping a patient for tests. Adrien gave small smiles to the ones he recognized, but they all acknowledged that the other had somewhere more important to be.

Adrien passed the elevator bay, heading to the stairs. He took them two at a time, reaching the third floor in just under a minute. Then, he walked the familiar hallways until he arrived at his destination: Marinette’s room.

She lay in the bed, pale and weak. Nothing like the strong woman he had started dating years ago. The coma she now lay in had left her helpless, lost in machines and medicines. Adrien slipped into his familiar place in the chair next to her bed, hand automatically taking hers. He kissed it, softly, and then released it to take his laptop out of his bag.

Adrien pretended not to see the date as his computer flared to life. June 14st, 2023. Only a week away from three years since Marinette had slipped into this coma.

Adrien impatiently tapped out his password, then got to work. He had a long paper write for his pharmacology class, and he was really not looking forward to it. He spent half an hour attempting to write the introductory paragraph, before frustration overtook him and he slammed the laptop shut. With a resigned sigh, he stared out at Marinette, who if not for the multitude of machines would almost appear to be sleeping peacefully. He took her hand again, feeling the strong pulse racing through her veins.

“Three years, Marinette.” He said, soft. It had been a few months since he had spoken aloud to her, after an emotion filled breakdown that had stopped him from coming for nearly a month. “Three years since they found you on that street corner. Three years since I’ve heard your voice, kissed you, watched you dance in the rain. It’s time to wake up, Marinette.”

A cough sounded behind him, and he whipped around, only to find Marinette’s doctor standing at the door, Sabine and Tom close behind him. The doctor stepped into the room, allowing Marinette’s parents to come through the doorway. Sabine collapsed into the chair on Marinette’s other side, while Tom stood by her head, brushing his hand over his daughter’s hair.

“Tom, Sabine. Have you spoken with Adrien about what we discussed?” Dr. Grote said, flipping through Marinette’s chart. Adrien’s heart stuttered, and he whipped his head up to look at the doctor.

About a year ago, they had a conversation about taking Marinette off of life support. As Adrien visited her every day and paid for her care, Marinette’s parents had discussed the topic with him as well. That conversation had started exactly like this one. Eventually, her parents had decided to do it when Adrien agreed, tearfully. Miraculously, she had started breathing on her own, and now only required her feeding tube and dialysis. Still, Adrien regretted that decision, regretted giving up on Marinette.

“You’re not-”

“Oh, no, not at all Adrien,” Dr. Grote said, anticipating Adrien’s question. She smiled. “When I took over her case after she started breathing on her own, I noticed patterns of brain activity when she was exposed to certain stimuli, ones that would have been familiar before her coma. I believe, while it is not typical medical procedure, that it would be best for Tom and Sabine to take her home and let her be surrounded by the smells, sounds and atmosphere of her life. I’ve contacted a research firm dedicated to coma reversal, and they find that it would be a worthwhile experiment, and the hospital is willing to allow it."

“I-I don’t understand. Dr. Bautrant said she showed no significant brain activity, just the average spikes,” Adrien said, trying not to get his hopes too high. It seemed too fantastic, unreal.

“Well, when I looked at the scan results, I saw that the spikes were occurring at around the same time, and I found that the spikes usually occurred when people were visiting, and I ran a few tests using stimuli I knew she would have been exposed to, like the smell of bread and pastries. All caused significant spikes that I just can’t ignore.”

All the air rushed out of Adrien, and he sat back in his chair, scrubbing a hand over his face. Hope had been far from his mind since around year two, right before they took her off ventilation. A little bit of it had come back once she was breathing on her own, but the longer and longer Marinette stayed in this coma, the smaller and smaller that speck got, until it hadn’t even been able to be considered.

“Adrien?” Sabine’s voice was quiet, soft. She knew how much this meant to him. He was truly grateful that the Dupain-Chengs had allowed him to have any say in their daughter’s care, as they really didn’t have to. Still, they knew how much he loved Marinette, and how he was willing to do anything for her.

“Sabine,” Adrien began, choking up as tears came to his eyes. “I think it’s better than doing nothing. She’s going to need nurses to come take care of her, right?” He directed his last question at Dr. Grote, who nodded. “I’ll take care of any expenses, any machines or medicines she may need.”

“Thank you, Adrien,” Tom said, laying his hand on Adrien’s shoulder. They had long since stopped arguing with Adrien on this issue, knowing it was his way of trying to help her.

“I’ll get her paperwork ready, Sabine, Tom.” Dr, Grote said, placing Marinette’s chart back down. “We’re hoping to get her home with you today.”

“Thank you, Dr. Grote. Truly.” Sabine stood and hugged the doctor, who smiled and hugged back.

Dr. Grote hurried out of the room, and from the window Adrien could see her talking with one of the nurses. He sighed, long and deep, before standing up out of his chair and checking his watch.

“I’ll see you both later,” he told Marinette’s parents, who nodded. “I have class.”

Sabine stood and hugged Adrien. “You can see her anytime when she’s home with us, Adrien. I think it will help both of you to have her out of this place. And you’re welcome for dinner, anytime. Just let me know and I’ll fix up a plate for you.”

Adrien nodded, then kissed her on the cheek. With a nod to Tom, he grabbed his bag and walked out the room. Suddenly, the world seemed a bit brighter

* * *

 

_“Why do you do this?” Ladybug asked, staring into Papillon’s eyes. They narrowed, then shut as he began to laugh._

_“Why do you try to stop me, Ladybug? We all have duties in this world. Mine just happens to be at odds with yours.”_

* * *

 

**One Week Later**

At exactly 12:00 a.m., June 21st, Marinette woke up.

She woke slowly, eyes blinking and body heavy with disuse. She felt as though she had overslept, but a panicked glance at the clock by her bedside confirmed it was still nighttime. Her mouth felt dry.

She pulled herself up, with some difficulty, only then noticing the IV in her arm. She gave it a confused look, then started to look around the room. It was her bedroom alright, with everything in the same place it had been. Marinette stood up, joints creaking and muscles stretching. She walked, slowly but surely to her bathroom, and flicked on the light.

Things in here looked very, very different. All of her makeup was gone, along with her moisturizer and face wash. In fact, the bathroom was completely bare of anything except dust. She looked into the mirror, and screamed, though it was hoarse and quiet. With shaking hands, Marinette felt her face. Her face was thinner, the bones much more visible. Her hair was long, and limp. Her arms and legs had lost most of the muscle tone she remembered having, leaving her looking like her pre-Ladybug self. Her skin was paler. Somehow, between going to bed that night, and waking up early this morning, she had drastically changed.

Wait, when _had_ she gone to bed that night? She could clearly remember her day: she had walked to school that day, excited at her graduation prospects. She had just heard back from Parsons in New York, and having won a pretty sizable scholarship from Gabriel with the stipulation that she work for them as soon as she graduated (she was glad that the submissions process was anonymous, because while dating Adrien was a dream come true, she didn’t want to use his name to get anywhere), she was confident she could actually afford the insane tuition rates. Then she had gone to class, and then there had been an akuma attack, and then…

Nothing.

A terrifying thought struck her, and Marinette searched desperately for some sort of calendar. Thankfully, her computer was sitting right where she remembered it, and she hastily opened it and looked at the clock in the corner of the screen.

1:30 a.m., June 21st, 2023.

She had lost _three years._ Three years of college, of spending time with Adrien and her friends, of being Ladybug…

Being Ladybug! Where was Tikki?

“Tikki?” Marinette said, voice still hoarse. She attempted to clear her throat, but it was still dry. Marinette looked around the room, looking for her bag, but it was too dark to see anything. She made her way to the light switch and flipped it on. She caught sight of her purse strap, dangling out of a plastic container with the words “Piti-Salpêtrière Hospital” on it. This shook her for a moment, until she remembered the IV in her arm. Of course she had been in the hospital. Why else would she be missing three years? She likely was in a coma of some form.

She continued forward, pulling the purse out of the container. She opened it, and with trepidation, looked inside.

Tikki wasn’t there. Marinette sat back on the ground, fighting back tears. Of course they had chosen a new Ladybug. Someone would have needed to be fighting Papillon in her absence. Defeated, she stood up, and caught sight of a familiar looking box on her desk. Moving as fast as she was able, Marinette stumbled over to the desk and grabbed the box. A tear escaped her eyes as she realized she had, in fact, seen this box before. Six years earlier, in fact.

Shaking hands opened the box, and with a flash of light, Tikki was before Marinette once again. Tikki smiled at her, and Marinette immediately burst into tears, collapsing into the chair by the desk. Tikki landed on the desk before her, and was swept up into a hug by Marinette.

“Oh, Tikki. I thought I would never see you again!” Marinette said, between sobs.

“Of course you would see me again! You’re Ladybug!” Tikki said, laughing. She was starting to tear up too.           

Marinette looked at Tikki. “But isn’t there a new Ladybug? How do they feel about me taking their job?”

Tikki blinked. “No, why would there be?”

“Because Papillon needs to be stopped?”

Tikki laughed, but when she saw Marinette wasn’t joking, stopped. “Marinette, _you_ defeated Papillon. Three years ago. Don’t you remember?”

“I did _what_?”

“You and Chat beat Papillon and returned his Miraculous to Master Fu. I didn’t see the fight, but from what I heard, it took a lot out of you. Master Fu said you had used too much energy and went into hibernation.”

Marinette looked at Tikki incredulously. “Hibernation? I assumed I had fallen and caused enough brain damage to actually put myself in a coma this time.”

“Yes, hibernation. It’s a defensive technique when you use too much of my powers because it causes so much strain on the human body. Basically, you go into a short coma to allow your body to recover without excess energy expenditure. Or, at least it’s supposed to be short. The longest I’ve seen it last is a month, nowhere even close to years.” Tikki looked lost in thought.

“Wait, so why didn’t you tell me this could happen before?” Marinette asked.

“Because it’s really rare. I’ll have to ask Master Fu what happened in that fight, since you don’t remember.”

Marinette shook her head. Defeat Papillon? After the second year of fighting him, Marinette had actually started to feel like it would never end. Chat had seemed more hopeful, but…

Wait.

“Oh god, does Chat know what happened to me?”

Tikki shook her head. “I don’t know. Master Fu might have told him, but I don’t know for sure. Master Fu was the one I went and got when you collapsed, because I thought something else might have happened. He said what happened was likely hibernation, so I wasn’t too concerned until a month had passed, but there was nothing we could do except wait. Master Fu took me from you after that month, in case I needed to be passed to someone else, but nothing has cropped up. Master Fu woke me yesterday and said you would be close to waking up soon, although I don’t know how he knew that.”

“I need to see Chat.” Marinette said, desperation leaking into her voice.

“Of course! We could go ask Master Fu to contact him for you. You’ll probably want to transform, though. I can’t see you going very far without my magic.” Tikki giggled, which earned her a glare from Marinette.

“Do you think we could go now?” Marinette looked at the clock. It was nearly two a.m. now.

“He’s probably already waiting for us. Wayzz probably woke him as soon as you woke me.”

Marinette nodded. She ran her fingers over the earrings, still sitting in the box. A part of her was glad no one had needed to take her place yet. Ladybug was _her_ role. Marinetter placed the earrings in her ears, and took the IV out of her arm, grabbing one of the band aids she always had in her purse to cover the wound.

“Tikki, spots on!”

The magic washed over Marinette, whipping her hair into her usual pig tails, though they were longer than usual. Her body was infused with Tikki’s magic, giving it strength. It was close to where she had been three years ago, and she would be able to easily navigate the roof tops, though her muscles would likely be in a lot of pain once she de-transformed.

Ladybug slid open her window, and leapt out into the night.

* * *

 

_“Chat, watch out!”_

* * *

 

Adrien woke with a start, nerves on edge. He looked around his room, but all he saw was Plagg’s glowing eyes, staring at him.

This had been happening on and off, ever since he and Ladybug had defeated Papillon. While asleep, his adrenaline would suddenly spike, and he wouldn’t be able to get back to sleep unless he ran it off. Plagg had become used to that, and was already floating next to Adrien, who stood up and said, “Plagg, claws out!”

Chat Noir stretched, then walked to the window. He would go out the front door, but the last time he had done that, he had nearly been caught by Katrina in the apartment next door. This was much safer, in that regard.

He launched himself out into the night, settling into his old patrol routine. He circled the arrondissement, then fanned out into the southern half of Paris. Ladybug always preferred to take the north, saying she liked looking at Le mur des je t'aime during her patrol. Chat had always found it charming.

He shook off thoughts of Ladybug, instead focusing on his patrol. They were few these days, but he still took the time to scan each street, rooftop and home for a place he could help out. The Parisian police had okayed him to stop in progress crimes and make “citizen” arrests, which usually ended with Chat handcuffing the criminal to a lamp post, calling his contact with the police and continuing his patrol.

Thankfully, nothing seemed to be happening today. He saw a couple people walking down the street, dressed in the uniforms of whatever job they happened to be leaving, and a couple groups stumbling home, drunk from a night partying. He did see one young woman home, after she was nervous about a couple guys she had seen at the bar. She got an air tour of the city on the way to her home, and was more than a little red by the time Chat dropped her home.

He finished a cycle of the city, and headed back to his arrondissment. He lived just down the street from where he had grown up; he had gotten his apartment as soon as he turned 18, and had wanted to be close to Marinette and all his friends, most of whom lived in the 21st. Now, it served as an easy central location to the rest of the city, and was within comfortable walking distance of Marinette’s hospital. Chat started to recall the first time Marinette had seen his apartment, and although it wasn’t anything special, she had said, “It’s beautiful, because you finally have a place to call home, Adrien.”

Lost in his memories, Chat almost missed the flash of red that darted across a nearby rooftop. He caught just the tail end of it, and whipped his head around so fast he nearly gave himself whiplash. It couldn’t be, could it?

But it was. Ladybug had returned, and had flown right by him.

Chat immediately whipped around and gave chase. Not knowing the reasons she had left in the first place, he kept as quiet as possible. He didn’t want to scare her off before he could corner her and demand answers. He ran as fast as he could, stepping lightly on the tiles of the roofs, slowly gaining on her. She was fast, but he had always been faster.

His thoughts raced. Why had she only returned now? What had kept her away from Paris in the first place? As he had many times before, Chat thought back over the day she had left. He remembered the akuma attack, how the akuma had seemed to break from Papillon’s control. How they had been led right into his trap, and Chat had been close to having his ring taken, when Ladybug had broken free of her restraints and managed to distract Papillon long enough for Chat to get out of his own, and then they had used every power they had to take Papillon down.

And then how Ladybug, timer running low, promised to meet him by the fountain in the park and finally reveal themselves. How he waited, for three hours, until he gotten the call that Marinette was in the hospital, comatose, and they weren’t sure when or if she would wake up. How, as weeks turned to months, and months to a year, he had finally stopped waiting for Ladybug, and had devoted his life to finding something, anything, to help Marinette.

A clatter drew him out of his memories. Ladybug had stopped, right across Master Fu’s parlor. She was intensely focused on the place, as if scanning for something. Chat readied himself, and leapt.

He collided with Ladybug, and they rolled over a couple times until they landed on a flatter portion of the rooftop. He glared down on Ladybug, trapped underneath his baton and his (not inconsiderate) weight. Unfocused eyes darted around his face, until recognition bloomed and Ladybug beamed.

This only served to increase Chat’s anger, and a hiss escaped him.

“Chat!” Ladybug was still smiling, almost as if she hadn’t heard the hiss. “Good to see you, kitty cat.”

“‘Kitty cat?’” He hissed the words. “You disappear for three years, with no explanation, leaving me sitting by that fountain for hours, leaving me to handle Paris and the press all by myself, and you think you still get to call me that? The time for pet names is past, Ladybug. I want _answers._ ”

And without warning, Ladybug burst into tears.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Title is definitely a working title. I am unoriginal and welcome input.
> 
> Oh man, it's 1:30 as I am writing this, and I have a lot of research to share. First off, according to [this post](http://paris-in-miraculous-ladybug.tumblr.com/post/133570143001/introduction-trivia), Marinette's home would be in the 5th Arrondissment of real life Paris, so I based any speculations on patrol routes and Parisian landmarks on this. 
> 
> Next, the [Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piti%C3%A9-Salp%C3%AAtri%C3%A8re_Hospital) seemed like an okay candidate to be performing experimental procedures on coma patients. Honestly, since the timeline of this story is so far removed from our time, I'm not too concerned with more intimate details of laws, schools and hospitals because I figure that six years from now will have least seen some changes in policies. I'm mostly concerned with distances from people's homes and landmarks and things like that.
> 
> Honestly, the [Le mur des je t'aime](http://www.lesjetaime.com/english/lemur.html) or "Wall of Love" was mostly a justification for splitting the city at all, but it seems like the kind of thing Marinette would want to look at, as she dreams about finally being able to tell Adrien "I love you." And then after she and Adrien are together, the patrol routes are established and familiar to them.
> 
> About the timeline: since I forgot that ML came out in 2015 for most places, I stuck the start date of it in 2017, then went to when they were about 18 and finishing school (side note: although most of the fandom agrees that Adrien and Marinette are 15 in the show, I can't find anything to actually confirm that and the wiki list their ages as "13-15" so maybe they're actually 13 in the show and I'm right), which puts the defeat of Papillon in 2020. Then I went for a "long but not long enough for Adrien to move on probably" time, which puts our heroes currently in 2023. Also, since the summer holidays for most Parisian students starts in July, June would still put Marinette in school and dreaming of graduation. And, since we're far enough in the future that I can justify some level of technological advancements, we will get to see some of my cyber punk fantasies leaking in (plus, it should be interesting to explore Marinette's recovery as she tries to adjust to a world with technology beyond what she is used to).
> 
> And on to the one final thing: the medical knowledge depicted in the beginning is almost assuredly false. I used as much knowledge as I had about how comas work (thanks, Grey's Anatomy) and whatever was accessible to me online without going into years of medical schooling to understand, and tried not to go too crazy with it. I think I fell in the range of "believable to the layman," which is all any writer can really hope for without a medical consultant. If anything strikes you as too incongruous with the story, feel free to shoot me a message.
> 
> Questions about the story? Want to shout at me about my lack of writing skill? Love it? Leave a comment below or hit me up at my [Tumblr](www.basicallyjazzhands.tumblr.com). Next chapter should be coming soonish, within a week or two (hopefully. Work and school are still a thing I need to do).
> 
> Edit from the future: Much more awake me has decided that the indents looked silly, so I took them out.


End file.
